3D Printed Embouchure Device

Spring 2023 MAE 156B Sponsored Project

University of California, San Diego

Sponsor: Dr. Jacqueline Greene, MD 

About 3D Printed Embouchure Device

Facial palsy, or weakness of the facial muscles, arises from temporary or permanent injury to the facial nerve. There have been limited studies on the effect of facial palsy on musicians. In the case of woodwind musicians, sound is produced by using a specific embouchure (the coordination of the cheek, mouth, tongue, and teeth when playing an instrument). For many professional or long-term musicians with facial palsy, the inability to play is devastating. 

The goal of our project is to create an assistive device to support the creation of the embouchure for a patient with partial facialy palsy of our sponsor and retired saxophone musician of 20 years.

Project Objectives

There are limited research on devices that assist the creation of the embouchure for musicians with facial paralysis. Previous iterations done by others were uncomfortable for long-term playing or had very expensive manufacturing and material costs. 

For this project, we'll be focusing on the tenor saxophone. Qualitatively, we want to create a device that: 

We will also compare the quality of sound (air pressure and air velocity) with and without the device to a musician that has full facial control. 

Final Design

Final device design (left). Device sleeve (green), mounting wall (blue), silicone interface (magenta), saxophone mouthpiece (dark purple).

Patient testing final design (right). Silicone attached to the wall mount with temporary fixtures (zip ties). Wall mount  (dark gray), silicone (white).